Choosing the Wrong College is Expensive

Throughout this process, you’ll hear colleges talk about finding “the right fit.” There’s good reason for that: selecting the wrong college is an expensive mistake to correct. One of Northland College’s affordability tips is to avoid selecting a college based solely on cost. Attending the college that appears on the surface to be “the cheapest college” can cost more than any of the other options regardless of their advertised cost.

Here’s why. If you select a college where you’re not happy, the risk of you not graduating is much higher. As much concern as there is about the cost of attending college, imagine the cost of paying for a few years of college and not earning a degree when you’re done. Those students are left spending years paying off student loans, while heading into the workforce without the advantage of higher job earnings that result from having earned the degree they initially sought.

A better solution would be to transfer to another college to finish a degree, but there is a significant cost to that as well. The initial cost may simply be credits being lost in transferring because course requirements and residency requirements (number of credits you need to earn at that college in order to graduate) vary from college to college. But that’s just a portion of the additional cost.

Colleges typically offer much less in financial aid to students who transfer as compared to students who enroll as freshmen. The reasons for this vary but this is a typical policy on campuses and should be considered as a potential increase in how much it will cost you and your family to complete your degree, should you find that you have to transfer to a new institution.

There’s also the significant costs due to the lost experiences associated with entering a college as a freshman—making friends, going through shared experiences together, forming lifelong friendships and personal networks, developing powerful relationships with faculty over four years (which is how we do things at Northland College), and becoming a part of the college and its surrounding community. All of these experiences contribute greatly to the value of the college education you receive and much of that is harder to do when you come in later than your freshman year.

That’s why we strongly recommend that you and your family work hard to choose the college that’s right for you. It’s also why we strongly recommend that you apply to several colleges and don’t apply to any college that you wouldn’t be happy to attend. We know that the final out-of-pocket cost of attending a college is going to be a large consideration in your final selection of a college. However, until you know that cost (which will be after you receive your financial aid packages from all the colleges you’re considering), the best thing to do is develop a list of colleges that you would be happy to attend, where you feel you would fit in well, and then begin working on the admissions and financial aid applications you need to be accepted and receive your final financial aid package.

You have only one shot at a true freshman experience. Our affordability tip is to be sure it’s at a college where you’ll be happy to attend for four years.